Samsung Electronics has delivered better-than-expected first-quarter earnings as robust demand for chips apparently offset a slump in smartphone and home appliance sales amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
However, analysts have warned that the company may feel the pinch of the COVID-19 outbreak during the current quarter.
The South Korean tech giant put its March-quarter operating profit at US$5.2bn, up 2.73 per cent from a year ago. It beat the market consensus of 6.19 trillion won in operating profit in the survey conducted by Yonhap Infomax, the financial arm of Yonhap News Agency, on 20 Korean brokerage houses.
Samsung recorded an 11.6 per cent operating margin in the first quarter, the lowest since the third quarter of 2016. Samsung, the world’s leading memory chip and smartphone vendor, did not break down performances of its respective business divisions, saying it will announce the detailed earnings later this month.
Analysts in Seoul said Samsung’s semiconductor business may have helped the company stay afloat amid the novel coronavirus crisis on the back of increased demand for server chips for data centres and a steady rise in memory-chip prices.
